UPDATE: It’s now confirmed by multiple sources that the deal is done: two-years, $40.5 million.
2:14 PM: Jon Heyman just tweeted that the Giants and Tim Lincecum are “very, very” close to sealing a two-year deal for “a little over $40 million.”
The existence of such an offer was first reported by Tim Brown of Yahoo! on Saturday. As D.J. noted then, a two-year deal like this would cover Lincecum’s remaining arbitration seasons and allow him to test free agency after 2013. It would also avoid a long term deal which Lincecum is reported not to really want right now.
For the Giants, it avoided the specter of going through arbitration with Lincecum over the next two seasons and, barring some sort of cratering of his performance, being on the hook for more than $45 million, I’d wager.
